Copper Street Brass to teach, present concert with local band students

Members of the Twin Cities-based Copper Street Brass will be teaching, rehearsing and performing with band students in grades 5-12 this week as part of a two-day residency in Grand Forks public schools.

Written By: Pamela D. Knudson
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Apr 23rd 2019 - 6am.

Members of the Twin Cities-based Copper Street Brass will be teaching, rehearsing and performing with band students in grades 5-12 this week as part of a two-day residency in Grand Forks public schools.

The ensemble will present a capstone performance for the public at 7 p.m. Thursday at Red River High School's Performance Hall, featuring the combined high school symphonic bands and a seventh- and eighth-grade mass band.

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Tickets, $10 for adults and $7 for students, are available by calling the Grand Forks Public Schools' box office at (701) 746-2411 in advance. Tickets also may be purchased at the door.

Members of the Copper Street Brass, an ensemble of five brass instrumentalists and a percussionist, will lead masterclasses and workshops and perform concerts for band students Wednesday at Grand Forks Central High School and Thursday at Red River High School.

In masterclasses, the professional musicians work with small groups of students according to the instrument they play, and give a concert at each of the high schools, said Janelle Huber, band director at Red River High School.

Huber said the Copper Street Brass group is "highly interactive, with an emphasis on education and outreach, and to top it all off, they're exceptional musicians."

The school district's beginning fifth-grade band students will be transported to Red River High School for a concert Thursday morning.

Huber and other band teachers are "very excited" about the event, because the ensemble provides "very age-appropriate, interactive concerts for little kids," she said. "We're really looking forward to that."

A premiere brass chamber ensemble in Minnesota, the Copper Street Brass is a classical chamber music ensemble that presents its own music, an original blend of musical styles from Mozart to Madonna, in more than 35 concerts and 100 outreach services each season.

Members of the group have performed with renowned classical ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Opera.

Individually, its members have recorded for Prince, Grammy Award-winner Big Walter Smith, and many other groups.